When Laughter Returns
by The Great Killjoy
Summary: There was once, a long time ago, a little child found in Mirkwood. As Lalaith grew up, she became a part within the elven community and even stole the prince's heart. But then Lalaith disappeared and was almost forgotten in history, but she was about to return, although she is not exactly the same anymore. OCxThranduil Rated T for some swearing
1. Prologue

_**Prologue: Lalaith**_

_Once, a long time ago, in the elven kingdom of Mirkwood, a discovery was made. An elven child, a little girl was found in the forest. She spoke no language known to Middle Earth and strangely enough behaved as a human three year old, to which she resembled greatly._  
><em>At that time, king Oropher ruled the realm and he ordered the strange child to be taken care of within his halls. And so, the little girl grew up and was quickly called Lalaith, 'Laughter', for wherever she went, her laugh would brighten up the room she was in and the king soon began to think of her as his own.<em>

_Lalaith was strange in many ways. She held a sort of naivety that never went away and she would be excited over the smallest of delights. She was often seen, chasing butterflies and singing songs in an odd language that no one understood. But also in appearance did Lalaith surprise. Her almost white hair, darkened to golden over the years, something that never happened and instead of the locks falling straight down, they fell in small waves down to her lower back and never seemed to stay in model. Her eyes were the color of sage but with golden specks and were almost always wide in wonder._

_As she grew older, she learned the elven languages and became fast friends with the prince, Thranduil. Not that he was her only friend, no. Lalaith had the talent to become friends with almost anyone she met and she often received compliments from many suitors when she became of age. Though it was the prince who stole her heart and she who stole his in return._  
><em>They were to be married and for a time, everything was well.<em>

_Then the most unexpected thing happened: Lalaith disappeared. All her things, clothes and even her diary were still in her room and nothing had been taken from the kitchens or anywhere else for that matter. The Lady of Smiles, as everyone had come to call her, was gone. The king ordered his guards to scan the place in search of her and Thranduil looked frantically with them, but no matter how much they repeated their panicked searches. They never found her back._

_Thranduil was eventually forced to let go of his love for Lalaith and after years and years finally went on with his life. He married his future queen and had a son, Legolas and there have been many tales written about their deeds and history._

_But the tale of Lalaith had not ended yet, for she was still alive and unbeknownst to anyone, not even her, her story was to take a turn for the unexpected._

A/N: Please review if you like it and if I made any spelling errors or grammatical ones; please let me know!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize as Tolkien's


	2. Chapter I

_**Chapter I **_

"_That's when Agrippina realized her life was in danger. Tacitus proves his great psychological insight when describing her reaction upon the murder on Britannicus, Nero's stepbrother…"_

The professor went on and on about Tacitus and his work, The Annals. Agrippina had been the mother of Emperor Nero and was the one who had managed to get him on the throne, but Nero didn't like her lust for power and killed off his step brother, Britannicus, the actual son of the previous emperor. Now Agrippina had no leverage left and Tacitus managed to describe all of this like it were some kind of bestselling thriller.

Levi stared in front of her, only listening half of the time. _Come on, be done with this already. You're boring everyone's minds out._ She had seen and heard all of it before in high school during Latin class and could now safely not pay attention. The auditorium was packed with over a thousand students and they were all noting the words the boring rector uttered down. That guy had managed to make Roman murder stories and a guy who had named his horse senator sound boring. Levi hated him with a burning passion. She tucked a strand of blonde hair that had fallen in front of her eyes behind her ears with a small, annoyed huff and looked at the clock hanging at the wall. Another hour to go.

The girl let her mind wander once again. She went over the things she'd do after class considering she had two hours before she would take the tram back to her home.  
>But in those two hours she had the chance to go to the center of Ghent, her home city now. It was a beautiful city, found Levi. The center still looked medieval, but the outer skirts were full of row houses in art nouveau with a constant sight on one of the four great towers of the city. Levi loved Ghent. She had been born here and now she lived in a small apartment near the train station so she'd be close to the university building.<br>She was probably just going to walk around a bit near the Kouter, the commercial center of Ghent, and walk along the water and watch the tourists. It was probably kind of cliché, but she just liked watching people and wondering where they were from.

Suddenly her thoughts jumped to a completely different scenery. Green leaves and sunlight reflecting on a brook. And… people… elves. And she was one of them; talking, laughing and singing. _Ugh, not again._ She shook her head as if to shake it out of there. Levi had been having these visions for as long as she could remember, but lately they've been following more closely upon each other and also a lot more vivid.

It was always the same. There was a forest and she was taking a walk in a gorgeous dress made from a sort of flowing, silky fabric. She knew she was elven even though she hadn't ever seen herself in these visions. There also was another elf who met her at the path she was walking. He was very handsome and they seemed to be very familiar with each other, maybe even in love. His name was always on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't place it. They were speaking a completely different language, yet Levi understood each word.  
>Somehow it didn't feel like just visions. It felt like… a memory, but one from a very long time ago. One of those thing you remember from when you were a little child.<p>

She sighed and shook her head to get the images out of her head. Then there was motion all around her and all the students around her picked up their stuff to get out of the building. Levi quickly followed and hoisted her heavy bag over her shoulder. She followed the stream of students out into the street and towards the center of Ghent. She took a deep breath, happy to finally get some fresh air again after those three hours of being cramped up in a way too warm auditorium.

She took out her iPod and pressed play, not really caring what song would come up. She was too lazy to go and find a specific song in the huge library of her iPod. But from the moment she heard the typical guitar opening her lips curled into a huge smile as she recognized AC/DC's Back In Black and ever so slightly, Levi felt more of a badass walking down the street.

It was May and already warm enough to walk around without a jacket, but there was a chill she couldn't seem to shake off, no matter how hard she tried to drown it out with her music and she had no idea where it came from. It grew stronger with every step and the streets that she knew so well, grew darker until they seemed almost strange or even hostile.  
>Levi sighed, annoyed and pressed on until she stood still, almost shuddering from the unnerving feeling of something... Big. She didn't know if it was good or bad, but she knew it was going to happen soon. How was it that just ten minutes ago she had barely felt anything and now she was looking over her shoulder the entire time from unease? <em>Great, now I'm getting paranoid.<em>

Out of nowhere, a hum sounded from her left. Turning her head, a dark alley seemed to be the source of the monotone buzzing. What moved her feet to walk towards the hum and into the alley, not even she herself knew. And the further Levi went, the louder the sound grew until it was almost deafening. _Get out of here, you idiot. Get out. What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy? _Her mind screamed at her, but her body refused to listen to er own great confusion.

And so she kept going until she was in front of a swirling blackness like a swarm of shadows crawling on top and underneath each other on the concrete wall. It was then that she seemed to snap out of it. Her eyes widened and a sort of primal instinct kicked in, filling her with fear. She whirled around to run, but before she could set even one step, the blackness behind her pulled her back in. Levi fought with all her might, her head whipping back from the shadow's force, her elbows kicking into nothingness and hands trying to grasp shadows. For a moment she thought she was actually escaping, but it had barely crossed her mind when her foot slipped on the dirty stones and she was engulfed in ice cold darkness.

_Fuck._

A/N: God, I know it took me way too long to write such a short chapter. I am so sorry, also because it's not even giving that much away from the story yet.  
>Please review for critiques or if you have questions and if I made any spelling errors or grammatical ones; please do let me know!<p>

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that you recognize as Tolkien's


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